what_made_you_sing_today tender square the iconic opening chords on satellite radio—i LOVE this song! dad turns up the volume and i’m there with first line, “chewing on a piece of grass / walking down the road…” mom joins in not long thereafter; my aunt does too. dad drums along the table’s ledge, keeping time. 210903 ... raze ukrainian latin music. i don't think this dude is singing about "gus at the gravesite". but that's what it sounds like to me. and it doesn't even matter that the strings and horns are fake. because gus is dancing and singing to raise the dead. so i'll sing along with him. 210904 ... unhinged mecca - spillage village it's just too catchy not to sing along and i was celebrating the delicious baked goods i was bringing home with me 210904 ... tender square the sexy new-jack swing stylings of vince gill with 90s on 9. "can you feel the magic in my hands when i touch and rub you the right way stroke applied with tenderness when i hold and rub you the right way" (how was seven-year-old me not scandalized by this song?!) 210905 ... tender square speeding towards the sun as the meat puppets’ “backwater” aired on postmodern with scott lowe 210912 ... tender square sipping coffee on avalon's patio when the outdoor speakers started to share "don't let me down don't let me down" the surrounding tables were caught up in their conversations, so i joined in with john figuring they couldn't hear me anyhow. 210919 ... raze someone blasting tom petty's "you don't know how it feels" on their front porch. "people come people go some grow young some grow cold i_woke_up in_between memory and a dream" 210925 ... tender square (i was listening to that track not so long ago, nearly posted it under "song_of_the_day") 210925 ... raze "this is the last time" by the_national. i still throw in a high third-part harmony that isn't there when matt berninger sings, "i won't be waiting anymore." and i still sing, "i won't eat bacon anymore," in place of, "i won't be vacant anymore." every. time. 210930 ... raze "i want it that way" by the backstreet boys, which popped into my head before sleep last night for no apparent reason and isn't ready to leave just yet. my solution is to sing it in a poor man's approximation of the voice of tom_waits. tell me why! 211027 ... unhinged my coworker the warehouse is usually quiet so rosa bursts into song all day. this afternoon she started singing what sounded like bohemian rhapsody to me so i sang the next few lines of the song back at her 211027 ... raze two men working on the coach house in willistead park, listening to robin trower's "bridge of sighs" while they did something to the chimney. they weren't singing along, but i was. 211102 ... raze "summertime in england" by van morrison. didja ever hear about, didja ever hear about, didja ever hear about wordsworth and coleridge, baby? 211116 ... nr i've been singing "prince johnny" by st_vincent every day since tender_square posted about it 211116 ... tender_square i remembered (most of the words), but i couldn’t forget the tune. and so i sang joel plaskett emergency at the sink, the way my grandmother used to sing in her kitchen: “under the stars, you stagger and swoon; the light of the moon, the light of the moon.” 211119 ... tender_square gah, typo. that was supposed to be "(most of) the words." 211119 ... raze a chaotic performance from the dogchestra. i don't think they would have asked me to join their ranks if they heard the words i was singing, though. 220114 ... tender_square hearing 311’s “all mixed up” playing on sirius xm’s lithium, because it gives the best advice: “you’ve got to trust your instincts, and let go of regret. you’ve got to bet on yourself now, star, ’cause that’s your best bet.” 220115 ... raze "sara" by starship. sure, i was singing it in a dream. but i belted that shit out, man. 220125 ... nr red_wine 220125 ... raze an infectious afrobeat song with a refrain that sounded like, "a shitty throat." my throat is in pretty good shape right now, but i wasn't about to let a thing like that stop me from singing along. 220129 ... tender_square while stirring sweating onions in the sauna of the soup pot i sang, “i get knocked down but i get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down.” 220215 ... raze tim buckley singing fred neil's "dolphins" live in london in 1968, a damaged choirboy rocketing his soul into the stratosphere. "oh, but sometimes i wonder do you ever think of me?" all_the_time, tim. all the time. 220223 ... Bizzar "island" by svrcina 220223 ... raze a blues singer named big sugar (no, not *that* big sugar) howling on the radio, "love's not a sprint; it's a marathon," and then mumbling, "that's what my grandma said." you had a pretty wise grandma there, big sug. 220324 ... raze the same thing that made me dance today: "king harvest (has surely come)" by the band, with levon helm's drums and garth hudson's organ given some extra punch by the radio signal folding the stereo mix down to mono. "scarecrow and a yellow moon and pretty soon a carnival on the edge of town king harvest has surely come" 220325 ... raze "dreamer" by supertramp, leaking out of muriel's son's cell phone and making the afternoon a little more colourful. he wasn't listening, but i was. that's the sound of my childhood right there. what a day, a year, a life it is. 220421 ... tender_square pointing at and counting the available hallway elevators of the hotel by using bono’s “unos, dos, tres, catorce” followed up with singing “hello, hello, i’m at a place called vertigo” on the descent. (it was only 7:15 in the morning; and no, i had not had any coffee yet.) 220517 ... raze "sister golden hair" by america. "will you meet me in the middle? will you meet me in the air? will you love me just a little? just enough to show you care?" 220616 ... tender_square a song i made up as i mounted my bike: "to-day is gonna be awesome, today is gonna be fuckin' rad, to-day is gonna be awesome, best day i ever fucking had." about a three blocks into today's operation_two_wheel_freedom, the song became a huffed mantra when i couldn't climb the hills. 220617 ... raze "life_is a highway" blasting from a stranger's phone as he blew by me on his two-wheeler, half-drunk and happy. 220618 ... raze "somebody's watching you" by sly and the family stone. "games are to played with toys, etcetera love is to be made when you're for real ups and downs are caused by life in general some are yours no matter how you feel" 220619 ... tender_square duncan shiek’s “barely breathing” bumping in the whole foods as i ladled soup. 220624 ... tender_square four words: woah, oh china grove. 220716 ... raze cjam playing "shadows from nowhere" by blue gas this morning. what a perfect little whisper of a song. "when the nights pass by too slowly to be shared i look for clues you're in the air the scent you always wear on the mirror lipstick tales of false affairs through words in red only declare another souvenir lying greens of summer colours in your hair but under covers you're elsewhere second handed spare so i put your picture in a different frame and hope that you won't look the same shadows disappear i can't stop stop shadows from nowhere calling me i can't stop stop shadows from nowhere i look but you're not there i can't stop stop shadows from nowhere calling me i can't stop stop shadows from nowhere in chase of you as if you care" 220726 ... tender_square what is typically sung as duet between two women fighting over the same man, but with an adjustment of lyrics has become a solo apology about seen roots, the power of flatulent foods, and the ownership of excreta. 220729 ... raze "trophy" by bat_for_lashes. another mobile phone special in the park. some strangers have good taste. "heaven is a feeling i get in your arms" 220806 ... tender_square in the car alone on the way to pick up coffee, after a night of long, heavy discussions: “i don’t ever want to feel like i did that day take me to the place i love take me all the way” 220822 ... tender_square the exaggerated enunciations of yellowcard’s “ocean avenue” on detroit alt-rock radio. 221005 ... tender_square dad turned up the volume in the car. “i didn’t know you liked this song,” i said. “i’ve always liked this song,” he informed me. and then we sang the chorus of nick lowe’s “cruel to be kind” together. 221007 ... tender_square sarah mclachlan’s “adia.” good god does that song bring me back to watching much more music and going to grade-school dances. "surfacing" was everywhere in 1997. 221016 ... tender_square “choosing stones big enough to drag me down where i am people's voices make hollow sounds just be quiet they'll go away” 221020 ... raze "when the music's over" by the doors. "before i sink into the big sleep i want to hear i want to hear the scream of the butterfly" 221029 ... tender_square the rising and falling oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh’s in “it’s real” by real estate. 221215 ... raze "new speedway boogie" by the grateful dead. "one way or another this darkness got to give" 221216 ... raze "down by the river" by neil young. 221217 ... tender_square "un-break by heart" by toni braxton, and every note i tried to hit would make dogs howl. 230101 ... tender_square the extended vocal undulations of thom_yorke singing, "heaven sent you to me." 230112 ... tender_square an absurd early morning falsetto with 4 non blondes’ “what’s up?” 230114 ... tender_square a spoof of sheryl crow's "all i wanna do," while slicing into a pie my neighbour made and delivered. "all i wanna do is eat some pie i gotta feeling it's gonna be tasty, guy. all i wanna do is eat some pie until i stuff myself on this super sweet treat, no lie." 230116 ... tender_square after a day of second-guessing self-criticism, i heard smashing_pumpkins anthemic "muzzle" on the airwaves. i sat in the parking lot outside of art class singing along with billy as loud as i could: "i know that i am meant for this world." 230302 ... tender_square the audacity of liam gallagher proclaiming he's going to live forever. when you soar with his concessions and his surrender you feel like you just might fly too. 230324 ... raze a half-remembered snippet of song that fell out of a dream. 230325 ... raze "listen to the music" by the doobie brothers. all_the_time. 230419 ... tender_square "she's not there" by the zombies. my dad and i were harmonizing the bridge and chorus together. ("this still sounds so fresh and it's sixty years old!" my dad said.) 230425 ... tender_square "if man is five if man is five if man is five then the devil is six then the devil is six then the devil is six then the devil is six and if the devil is six then god is seven then god is seven then god is seven" 230504 ... tender_square 4 non blondes' "what's up" as loud as my lungs would carry. 230512 ... tender_square a big ol' jet airliner, courtesy of steve miller band. 230624 ... raze the memory of a man i never met. 230918 ... raze "i was made to love her" by stevie wonder. 240215 ... raze bobby womack howling and growling his way through "if you think you're lonely now". 240222 ... raze "rock 'n' roll with me" by david_bowie. "when you rock and roll with me no one else i'd rather be nobody down here can do it for me i'm in tears again when you rock and roll with me" 240311 ... raze "don't dream it's over" by crowded house. that chorus will never fail to move me. 240312 ... raze a whole pile of songs on the third self-titled peter_gabriel album. 240423 ... raze some gospel song on the radio. i didn't learn its name. 240512 ... raze "i got you" by split enz. (neil finn strikes again.) 240710 ... raze a little bit of rainy_day_music. 240806 ... raze the first side of "small_talk" by sly and the family stone. there's an underrated album if i've ever heard one. 241106 what's it to you? who go blather from